You're right. I didn't look at my phone all day up until 2 hours ago and I had 19 missed calls. I agree- turning it off is the better option. I will admit that I'm one of those people glued to my blackberry though!

I've been spending about 20 hours a week in court for the past month & I talk to a TON of attorneys/DA's/judges, and, seriously, I've met like 1 or 2 from the T25. One of my regular questions to people I talk to is "what law school did you go to", and I've been nothing less than shocked at the number of low Tier 2's & Tier 3's I hear. That has relaxed me a little bit.

It's always comforting to hear that your future isn't completely doomed if you're not in that 170+ range, but Powerscore's LSAT-to-future-salary list is still a little intimidating

Yes, Lavahead is correct -- by 171 being a nerve-wracking score, I didn't mean to imply that it's a bad score. Not at all! Hell, I'd be happy as pie to get it on test day. It's just very borderline -- and given that stress can screw things up and since yes, I am aiming for that 170+ score, a 171 feels borderline. I do understand that life goes on without hitting the 170+ threshold, but I'm not about to accept that fact just yet

The questions I miss ARE all over the place. For example, on the Feb 2000 test (superprep c), I scored a 172, but only because I completely bombed the last game in the games section and did well on LR/RC. On other preptests I usually get at most -1 on LG and it's RC that gives me trouble. And then sometimes it's just the scale -- boo -7 = 170 scales!

Otherwise my scores a pretty consistent across the board and incorrect answers are not limited to a particular question type. I guess at this point doing well is more a matter of maintaining focus and zen through the test than anything else.

Thanks everyone, I'll try the Obama/Clinton advice. That should shut the up next time.

Yes, Lavahead is correct -- by 171 being a nerve-wracking score, I didn't mean to imply that it's a bad score. Not at all! Hell, I'd be happy as pie to get it on test day. It's just very borderline -- and given that stress can screw things up and since yes, I am aiming for that 170+ score, a 171 feels borderline. I do understand that life goes on without hitting the 170+ threshold, but I'm not about to accept that fact just yet

The questions I miss ARE all over the place. For example, on the Feb 2000 test (superprep c), I scored a 172, but only because I completely bombed the last game in the games section and did well on LR/RC. On other preptests I usually get at most -1 on LG and it's RC that gives me trouble. And then sometimes it's just the scale -- boo -7 = 170 scales!

Otherwise my scores a pretty consistent across the board and incorrect answers are not limited to a particular question type. I guess at this point doing well is more a matter of maintaining focus and zen through the test than anything else.

Thanks everyone, I'll try the Obama/Clinton advice. That should shut the up next time.

Thank goodness someone else understands. Other friends who are prepping for the Oct test get angry when I tell them I'm flustered over my low-170s range on my PTs. I try to explain to them the exact same thing; it's not that low-170s is bad, but there's a very real possibility that your score will drop on test day. So, it would be a much more comforting feeling to score 175ish consistently and know that even the pressures of test day could only realistically lower you to a 170.

And about the parents thing, definitely put it in percentile terms. Any parent who isn't proud of their child averaging in the top 1% of all future law students is ridiculous. Ask them if they're in the top 1% of anything in the world.

oh, and i totally feel ya on the parents issue. a month ago, i couldn't go a week without hearing '180'. i think now they see that i'm stressed out about the exam, so '180' has suddenly become 'do your best'. lolz

Lind, I qualified my statement with the point that I know a 171 isn't bad. What's bad is stress, and stress can drop the score you've worked hard to attain, regardless of what it is, 5 points. The difference between a 171 and a 165 is not much point-wise, but it is a lot of closed doors at T14s. Just like the difference between a 160 and a 155 is a lot of closed doors.

Look at any school median (no not LSN) and you'll see that a couple of points can mean the difference between a median, 25th percentile and 75th percentile. I'm not going to tell you a lower score than that is bad or good, because it's subjective to what people want and where they aim to go. However, if you want to score above 170 on test day, a 171 IS borderline. Anyone who tells you you're rude for pointing that out has probably never been borderline in anything in life to understand what that feels like, whether that's borderline 160s, borderline 150s, borderline 180. It's just on a score cusp, no insults or insensitivity intended to anyone who's offended by that fact.

Anyway, you are clearly brilliant, so I'm not going to say much more to that, hopefully you understand. I just wish everyone taking the LSAT on Saturday the best of best of luck -- you all have helped me tons on this board, and I really appreciate all of the positivity!

I have a question. How do you deal with friends (and family) that can't grasp the fact that you HAVE TO STUDY and can't go out for dinner, or talk on the phone for a 1/2 hour (or even 15 min) or text you back or even call you back right away or even within a few days really?!